What We Do

We help you work less and deliver more.

Sharepoint Consulting

Microsoft SharePoint can transform your business and help your teams get more done, from anywhere, in less time. Maybe you have the skills to get your SharePoint site collection to really work, but do you have the time? Lightlever can work with you as needed to run the whole project or just fill in the gaps, support you, and train your users.

Lightlever has spent thousands of hours teaching people how to use SharePoint effectively, and we have a mania for finding the best way to do anything. This has helped us develop templates and methods to produce great business solutions, fast. Our consultants have the technical and communications skills to build SharePoint solutions that work for you.

...items that led to the success of this [SharePoint development] project included:

A clear pragmatic approach that embraced the KISS principle;

Open lines of communication;

A strong emphasis on training;

Highly knowledgeable and approachable consultants;

Ability to address our requirements within a small budget.

I would not hesitate to recommend Gerry for similar projects in the future and would be happy to provide references for their work.

Lesley Preston

We benefited greatly from the implementation of the Microsoft SharePoint product. For example, the development of meeting workspaces and libraries has greatly increased the efficiency on various projects and contracts.

Business Analysis

Your business is complex, but in order to simplify and streamline, you’ll need to draw information from different departments, get them to agree on information flow and processes.lightlever is a specialist in this kind of facilitation, documentation, and presentation.

Isn’t it interesting that the Japanese character for “to divide” (分) also means “to understand”. This summarizes our view of problem solving: we divide your business problems (or opportunities) into their component parts, so we can have focussed conversations with your staff and Management to produce clear, well-understood solutions that everyone supports.

Our Principal Consultant, Gerry Brimacombe, has been an “efficiency nut” since childhood when he built tree houses with found materials — to save time and effort in sawing, the tree house was the size and shape of the boards he found. That passion for the easiest, fastest way to do things has carried into his various business, many successful projects, volunteer work, and SharePoint solutions that support efficient business processes.

Call or email if you’d like some examples of what we’ve done.

In the face of multiple challenges, Gerry was a constant source of strength, enthusiasm and intelligent good humour. Relying upon his project management leadership, we were able to keep focused on our critical goals. Most importantly, we finished the project on budget and one year ahead of schedule.

Gerald Smeltzer

President / National Education Consulting

Gerry is that rarest of individuals -- a savvy business person who uses his skills and talents to create positive change. I recommend him highly.

Sue Doman

Senior Business Analyst / BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure

Gerry is extremely organized, focused and driven. He has built an excellent team and is determined to deliver the highest quality solutions.

Craig Thomson

VP and GM SMB Payments / Digital River

Gerry's breadth of knowledge and genuine interest allow him to quickly build lasting relationships. I have enjoyed working with Gerry in the past and look forward to continuing the working relationship.

Highlights

Develop a business case for using cloud services

Develop system requirements

Facilitate meetings

Design or improve business processes

Evaluate how technology can help your organization

Project Management

Your projects are important. Whether you’re installing a new information system or building a house, a well-managed project reduces your stress. Ensuring the team is engaged, budget and schedule are met and scope is well managed is what we do, primarily. And secondarily, as a result, we make you look good .

Lightlever’s Principal Consultant, Gerry Brimacombe, has tens of thousands of hours managing projects over a 30-plus-year career. Project management is fundamentally about people management, and Gerry is a people person. Gerry has a Graduate Certificate in Project Management and has taken the PMP prep course twice. He has chosen not to write the exam, but is in full possession of the knowledge and skills and has implemented PMOs.

The Gartner Group has reported that the number one reason for project failure, year after year, is poor communication. As an outstanding facilitator, solid communicator, and technology whiz, Gerry has the foundation to manage your projects well, reduce risk, and ensure on-time and on-budget delivery of the results you expected.

Gerry can help you build a project plan that works, and work that plan efficiently from initiation to close, onsite or offsite. We can set up a SharePoint site and teach the team how to share project files, task, calendars, contacts, etc., all of which improves project team communication and increases efficiency through all aspects of your project.

Call or email if you’d like some examples of what we’ve done.

In the face of multiple challenges, Gerry was a constant source of strength, enthusiasm and intelligent good humour. Relying upon his project management leadership, we were able to keep focused on our critical goals. Most importantly, we finished the project on budget and one year ahead of schedule.

Gerald Smeltzer

President / National Education Consulting

Gerry is an honest and straightforward person to work with. His efforts are backed by a great team.

John Rafuse

Global Business Development

Gerry is extremely organized, focused and driven. He has built an excellent team and is determined to deliver the highest quality solutions.

Craig Thomson

VP and GM SMB Payments / Digital River

Each time (we work together) I have been impressed with the professionalism of the presenters, their depth of knowledge and their ability to get concepts across.

Jeremey Janzen

Gerry's breadth of knowledge and genuine interest allow him to quickly build lasting relationships. I have enjoyed working with Gerry in the past and look forward to continuing the working relationship.

...items that led to the success of this [SharePoint development] project included:

A clear pragmatic approach that embraced the KISS principle;

Open lines of communication;

A strong emphasis on training;

Highly knowledgeable and approachable consultants;

Ability to address our requirements within a small budget.

I would not hesitate to recommend Gerry for similar projects in the future and would be happy to provide references for their work.

Lesley Preston

In all my dealings with Gerry, I have found the company and everyone in it to be honest, reliable, straightforward and positive. I highly recommend…

Rose Arsenault

The Placement Group

Highlights

Create pragmatic project plans

Run projects in an efficient manner

Manage teams

Perform post-project reviews

Facilitate planning meetings

Build a project management office (PMO)

Products and Tools

Tools make a job easier, faster, and/or better.

The tools presented have been created by Lightlever to help our projects and our clients. Working on your own or with your team, these products will give you a jump start on your SharePoint development, project management, and business analysis. Everything offered here has a 100% money-back guarantee. If you are not completely satisfied please let us know.

Meet our Team

Gerry Brimacombe

Principal Consultant

Gerry has built skills in business processes and technology as a Programmer, Business Analyst, Project Manager, Business Owner and Board Member. He has a Bachelor of Arts (interestingly enough) in Computer Science, and a Graduate Certificate in Project Management. Gerry bought, built, ran, and sold Sector Learning Solutions (2004-2014) which provided Microsoft training and SharePoint consulting. In his new venture, Lightlever Systems, Gerry is focussing deeply on helping businesses work better with a focus on SharePoint consulting, Project Management and Business Analysis.

Gerry is constantly reading, exploring, studying, and refining his ability to help his business and others work more smoothly. He does this through pragmatic application of technology and process.

Gerry lives a life of integrity and can be relied upon to be honest, direct, compassionate, and funny.

Lightlever created a Vacation Calendar for the City of Langford, used by all staff, which includes vacation requests and manager approvals. We used SharePoint tools: a customized Calendar List, InfoPath forms, and a SharePoint Designer Workflow to send approval emails and update calendar entries.

As Monk developed a new product line (DIRTT), it was decided that there were some opportunities to streamline and improve the existing tools used for project management and communication. A new system was required that would make it easier to share project plans, tasks, and drawings with Monk staff and their consultants and clients.

Veris office servers were aging and becoming difficult to use and expensive to maintain. Most Veris consultants work at clients sites or mobile offices, so having systems that work well no matter where you are is key. Veris needed a cost-effective way to standardize software, centralize information sharing, and improve communication.

With branches spread out across large distances, and staff working multiple shifts, a unifying “Staff Intranet” is a key component of VIRL’s business model. Lightlever won a competitive bid process in January 2015, and by June a fully functional SharePoint-based staff intranet was complete.

Our Values

Lightlever is a values-based business.

We tell the truth with your success as our primary driver. We have told clients many times, “yes, I could do that for you, but here’s an easier way that costs you nothing”.

When we tell you “it will be so”, then it will be so.

Yes, we are honest. And we have created systems and techniques to manage work and life so when we make a commitment, you can bank on it.

Innovation is “creative ideas put to practical use”. There’s nothing we love more than finding a faster, easier, or better way of working. We have developed and taught courses on Innovation and we use practical techniques to solve client problems.

We work in practical, realistic ways, rather than academic or idealistic. Sometimes a solution appears to be great, but if there’s not enough budget or time, we risk creating a system that’s difficult for you to manage or maintain. Our pragmatism steers us, and you, to create better long-term solutions.